Champaign citizens re-elected Will Kyles for his second term as District 1 Champaign City Council member during Tuesday’s elections. Kyles received about 60 percent of the votes.

The District 1 race was the only contested race in Champaign this year. The two candidates, Kyles and Gina Jackson, have both previously held the position.

Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten said the election went well this year, and he saw no major problems with vote tallying.

Although Kyles said campus voter turnout more than doubled since he was first elected in 2009, he said he thought the turnout was still low. He said he thinks the campus community is a very important part of the election.

“Campus matters,” Kyles said. “If you look at the (campus voting) numbers, it doesn’t look significant, but it helps to finalize everything.”

Tierra Braxton, sophomore in LAS, said this was her first time voting in Champaign, and she was not familiar with the candidates.

“I’m not really sure who all these people are,” Braxton said. “I just looked at their job and stuff online.”

As he continues his role as a council member, Kyles said he wants to focus on infrastructure issues and economic development.

“Moving forward we definitely have to have some sustainability in the program that we already have,” he said. “I think we will work on infrastructure issues and economic development. I think the University will be a great partner for District 1.”

Kyles said Jackson was a big part of his success in 2009.

“Ironically, my opponent was the one who brought me into it and supported me,” Kyles said.

During this election, he said he and Jackson saw eye-to-eye on a few issues, including economic and employment issues, and he will do his best to improve them.

“A lot of the time, it’s not really a huge difference in what we are talking about, but it’s more on how we approach them,” Kyles said.

He will begin his second term as council member in two weeks.

Earn can be reached at [email protected].